June 24, 2015

From a historical point of view, and for centuries now, the people of Africa have been persecuted, enslaved, colonialized, divided by tribe and conquered, and their lands raped and plundered of every bit of natural resources.

Who committed these crimes? The white European imperialists and colonializers!

The enslaved Africans that were kidnapped and shipped to America have been persecuted as old as America is. No American laws on paper have saved them or changed their lives.

White supremacist institutional racism and prejudice is so ingrained in our society that it is almost “normal” for white people / law enforcement to shoot black people without a second thought.

What we are seeing today- the massacre of black people by white supremacists – is nothing new. This has been going on – always.

What is new is the fact that social media has exposed this crime against black people and the citizens in American – and the globe – can no longer deny these crimes when they are recorded and posted for the world to bear witness.

And who are committing these crimes? The white supremacist immigrants from Europe who imperialized and colonialized Africa!

Now suddenly we have a new slogan: Black Lives Matter! Well, really! Since when did black lives matter? This is a meaningless phrase!

The same “white is superior” mentally that persecuted and plundered the African Continent (and persecuted the Jews and are now slaughtering Muslims) is still at work here on American soil. And it will be a long time before “Black Lives Matter” on American soil.

And you Africans on American soil, if you believe that meaningless slogan about black lives matter, then you are more gullible than I thought.

June 22, 2015

South Carolina: Perhaps the twenty-one year old white Christian supremacist terrorist will finally prove that there is white justice and black justice in the United States of America.

This terrorist planned for months and cold bloodedly assassinated nine people serving their God in church. It was a pre-meditated act of terrorism on people because they have dark skin.

However, the media, law enforcement and the elected officials are refusing to call this crime what it is: A heinous, racist act of terrorism, committed by a white avowed supremacist man.

If a black man had done this crime, he would have been in chains. If a Muslim man had done crime, every news headline would scream terrorism, and homeland security, law enforcement agencies and the National Guard would be on high alert.

A white man kills nine people and one popular TV station that thrives on propaganda is trying to spin ways to justify his racist crime. It is reported that the police gave him a bullet proof vest, and he won’t be in prison, but in a nice quiet psychiatric ward. Hope he gets his internet, chocolate and ice cream!

A man who plans for months, where and when to kill people does not need a psychiatric ward to rest his soul; he needs solitary confinement in Guantanamo Bay or Rikers Island where the guards know how to treat minority prisoners.

How this will end no one knows, or perhaps the white supremacists know. Are they collecting money for him yet?

Two things are clear: This racist is getting the royal treatment and his trial will highlight the white justice / black justice legal system that rules this white land.

June 19, 2015

Those nine people died because their skin is dark. All over the country, from the White House to the black holes, people are observing a moment of silence.

Who cares about these moments of silence? Certainly not the dead! Why aren’t the public observers of silence – congress, supreme court, governors, mayors, politicians, et al) screaming about gun control, white supremacy racism that is eating the soul of this country, domestic terrorism that is slowly imprisoning scared people in their own homes.

Can’t the people in charge of this country see that slowly we the citizens are forced to self-imposed confinement indoors? We may as well move to Gaza.

We are not safe in schools, theatres, temples, churches, mosques, colleges, shopping malls, parks, streets and in our own homes.

When are law makers going to face the fact that there are too many guns in the wrong hands? And used for the wrong purposes? How many more people must die before people become more important than gun sales?

A young man has no education, no job, no driver’s license, but he has a gun, ammunition and enough hate in his heart to kill nine worshippers.

Thanks to his gun, he also has no future.

Racism is so ingrained in the souls of white supremacists that guns in their hands are permission to kill.

How many more people must die before we scream gun control, racism, terrorism? After all, death is silence – they don’t need a moment of it!

June 17, 2015

This is a deep, stinging indictment of the education system from a teacher’s point of view.

The Other Side of Teaching, by Evelyn Uddin-Khan, is an emotional look at the trenches of education from a veteran teacher.

Uddin-Khan has a doctorate in comparative and international education, lending her book a broad perspective and deep insight, but the heart of her understanding is intensely personal.

The book examines teaching conditions, internal and external politics, and the shifting balance of power in education. The first two parts of the book share stories from her teaching experience. The third part discusses policy problems specifically, but her experience is critical to her insights. The fourth part gives the author’s view of the positives of the teaching profession, such as the students themselves and friendships with other teachers.

It’s clear through her sincerity and intensity that Uddin-Khan loves teaching and students. But the depth of her love makes her hurt deeper. After years of service, being essentially demoted made her feel like a commodity to the school system—a system that she already felt didn’t give teachers their due respect. Her pain and anger are quite understandable, but at times they overshadow the ideas she wants to present.

Her discussion of policy and problems with the system is best suited for those who have a relatively good grasp of the education system: She begins, “It is obvious that education policy in its present form is excluding the majority of poor and middle-income children from receiving the education they deserve.” For some teachers, parents, and concerned citizens, Uddin-Khan’s ire will fuel desire for change.

But those unfamiliar with the day-to-day realities of the teaching profession will find her experience eye-opening and even shocking (such as how verbal and physical abuse from students goes unaddressed by administration and parents), prompting the question, “It can’t possibly be that bad, right?”—a question that Uddin-Khan hopes will encourage people to take a deeper look at education.

The cover and back panel copy don’t fully show how personal and emotional the book is. They set a more academic expectation that may make Uddin-Khan’s earnest and sometimes angry voice jarring. The Other Side of Teaching is an inside look at the education system through one teacher’s tell-all point of view.

June 12, 2015

Congress has been debating the Immigration Bill for years now. The President orders the deportation of hundreds of thousands of immigrants. Somebody named bigot Sessions vowed last year (2014) to debate the bill to death.

Is this issue about the President, the Democrats, the Republicans or 11 million people living in limbo and treated like criminals? They work and pay taxes but get no benefits in return. Some of them have lived in the US for over 20 years; their children know no other home.

If the white law-makers in Congress were to trace their ancestry they might find a few jail birds among their grandfathers.

The Brits used to empty their jails, load the criminals on ships and post them to the new colonies – America and Australia. Perhaps bigot Sessions’ ancestors were on one of those ships.

Now we do not have that kind of immigrant in the US. However they landed on US soil, their desire is to live in these United States legally, and work for their American dream. So far they are living the American nightmare!

This country was built on the backs of immigrants. Chinese, Spanish … their blood, sweat and cheap labour … ask Cesar Chavez. He fought for their rights.

Every transplanted American citizen can trace his blood line to a foreign land. Well, what is the problem with bigot Session and his white supremacist friends?

This land belongs to the Natives. The Tribes. All the rest of us are guests or immigrants. The Natives and this land welcomed us and gave us opportunities beyond our wildest dreams. Why can’t we share with those 11 million people?

Here is why we can’t share. People like bigot Sessions have two goals. One is a President, who in their eyes must fail, and the other is to prevent 11 million people from becoming voters – just in case they decide to vote for the other party.

The white supremacists are intolerant of a vast majority of the people in this country. Right now Muslims are at the top of the list. We can add Jews, Blacks and immigrants. At least these groups are not jail birds or criminals like those who landed 300 years ago.

Oh! And the Natives on whose land we are trespassing are still fighting for the rights of their own land.

June 8, 2015

The Other Side of Teaching

Evelyn Uddin-Khan

Xlibris, 424 pages, (paperback) $23.99, 9781499077940

(Reviewed: April 2015)

Not long ago, teachers commanded respect from students, parents and society in general. Today, though, they are often punching bags for those same groups, blamed for America’s failing education system.

Evelyn Uddin-Khan knows that system and says the fault lies not with the classroom educators, but with those who are pointing fingers.

Uddin-Khan, who has a doctoral degree in comparative and international education, spent more than 20 years teaching in New York’s public school system. For 18 years, she writes, she was a well-respected and dedicated professional. But then her job changed; she was “excessed” — education-speak for being reassigned. No longer needed as an ESL teacher, Uddin-Khan was made a substitute teacher. Her three years in that position is the basis for The Other Side of Teaching.

For most of her book, Uddin-Khan details the chaos that she suffered through daily. Violent, disobedient and indifferent students and unresponsive and disconnected parents were just part of the problem. Worse, in her view, were school administrators and politicians, whose decisions were most often motivated by expediency or greed. She claims that administrators ordered grades inflated and problem students promoted or graduated, all in an effort to bring up schools’ test scores.

No Child Left Behind legislation, she maintains, merely moves these poorly-educated students to the next level, making them somebody else’s problem.

To her credit, Uddin-Khan does offer some specific remedies, from getting cops out of the classrooms to separating politics from education to investing money in schools.

Overall, this is a narrative that will certainly give readers a different view of education.

June 5, 2015

Yes, the Patriot Act expired on 6-1-15 to the delight of Senator Rand Paul, and to the dismay of the Republicans who created this spy network.

But who cares? Spying and surveillance will continue with more vigor and determination than ever before.

We are now a nation controlled by its government. Who dares to deny that? We spy on ourselves, our friends, our allies, and our enemies.

One must admire Rand Paul for his lone courage and willingness to stand up to the Senate. However, one feels that before long the Patriot Act will return stronger and more detrimental to the public and the people of the US.

Let those who criticize Russian and Chinese government policies be reminded that our government is worse than they are. The Russians and Chinese do not have First, Second, Fifth, Fourteenth or any other rights, do not pretend otherwise, and Russian and Chinese people do not claim any such rights.

We the people in the US have these Rights, and many other rights and amendments on paper, but today, those rights are used for a good argument.

Every building – post office, bank, supermarket, store – we walk into, our presence, activities and transactions are recorded. At the airport, they X-ray us naked. Every phone call, e-mail, and purchase made is recorded by government surveillance. Well, what privacy are we the people of the United States talking about?

The only people who enjoy protection and privacy in this country are the police and other law enforcement criminals such as the FBI, CIA, NSA, etc. They can kill black people, excuse the rich, entrap Muslims, and manufacture evidence to suit their crimes with impunity.

Yes, parts of the Patriot Act expired, but who cares? Are Julian Assange, Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden now free and safe?

Senator Rand Paul, you have a long way to go to restore freedom and the rights of the people in this Land of the Free and Home of the Brave.